Trucker faces 5 homicide counts in death of Minnesota family

Updated: 8:45 p.m. | Posted: 4:55 p.m.

A Nebraska prosecutor has filed five homicide counts against the driver of a semitrailer that struck and killed a Minnesota family in that state Sunday.

Tony Weekly, a 53-year-old long-haul trucker from Florida, was charged with one count of motor vehicle homicide for each member of the family that died in the fiery crash. He's also charged with a misdemeanor for reckless driving.

According to a state trooper's affidavit, Weekly was inattentive and distracted while driving at high speed in a construction zone on Interstate 80. His semitrailer fatally rear-ended the van of Jamison and Kathryne Pals.

Their three children — 3-year-old Ezra, 23-month-old Violet and 2-month-old Calvin — were with them in the van. The whole family died in the crash according to the Nebraska State Patrol. They were residents of Minneapolis, authorities said.

Karen Pals, a sister-in-law from Eau Claire, Wisconsin, said they were traveling to Littleton, Colorado, for a month of training as missionaries. They planned to move this fall to Japan, where they expected to remain for years.

Three other vehicles were also involved in the crash, and six other people were injured.

According to public records, Weekly had been charged with careless driving, and a handful of other driving violations going back 20 years.

At the time of the crash, Weekly worked for Bohren Logistics, a Garrett, Indiana-based shipping company. Operations manager Joe Davis confirmed Weekly was a contractor for Bohren and expressed condolences to the families of the victims. Davis would not comment on Weekly's driving record, or the company's hiring requirements.

Weekly is being held in the Keith County Jail in Ogallala, Nebraska.